The export market for pomegranates is picking up. But the reduced sizes of the fruit in the middle of poor monsoon has become a cause of concern for farmers in Maharashtra.
?The export demand is good. But it has become difficult for us to meet this demand because of size of pomegranates and the quality of the fruit is also not as good,? Prabhakar Chandane, chairman, Maharashtra Pomegranate Growers Research Association, said.
Around 40,000 tonne of pomegranates were exported by farmers in 2013-14 and farmers are hoping for a better season this time around as well, he said. Even in this environment, prices of the fruit are around R100 per kg for farmers, he added. The pomegranate season usually begins in July and continues till September.
Exports for the fruit have picked up and Indian pomegranates are now going to Colombo, Middle East, Russia and Europe, Chandane said. The UK, the UAE, Saudi Arabia, the Netherlands, Egypt, Turkey, Bahrain and Kuwait are other important markets for pomegranates. This season, however, the crop is likely to be affected to the tune of 30-40%, he said. The crop was earlier estimated at around 9 lakh tonne.
?There are no rains and if there is less water during the ripening period, it could affect the sizes of pomegranates,? Chandane explained. Indapur, Ahmednagar, Sangli and Solapur regions are growing pomegranates. This year, in Indapur region near Pune, the crop has been affected by oily spot disease causing a loss of Rs 100 crore for farmers in the area.
Interestingly, the state government has declared a 5,000 hectare project for pomegranate in Vidarbha region. When the project gets off the ground is not very clear, he said.There are reports of farmers making a shift to pomegranate in the state since this fruit commands a better price in the market as opposed to grapes. Farmers in the state had begun to find pomegranates more remunerative than grapes and had therefore began making the shift. Around 30,000 hectares to 40,000 hectares has come under pomegranate cultivation as against 10,000-15,000 hectares in the previous year, Chandane said Maharashtra contributes 90% of the total country’s pomegranate production.
Maharashtra has 85,000 hectares of pomegranate orchards with the largest being in Solapur with 28,000 hectares followed by Nashik with 25,000 hectares. The second season of harvesting to come up in the January-February period. The first season for the crop has comes up in the July to September period. New areas under pomegranate include Nagpur, Latur, Osmanabad and Washim. In addition to Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh have also begun growing pomegranates with the area under cultivation going upto 1,25,000 hectares in the last three years.